Three Categories of Life

Church leaders are funny sometimes - probably more than they intended.  It is all the rage to have a "living" church and not a "dead" church.  No Christian leader wants to be dubbed the guy in charge of the "dead" church.  Christian leaders should be life givers not grave diggers.  Leaders talk, finagle and brag about what their church is doing.  Many times the stories are better than any fish story ever told.  There is always more activity and more ferver in the story than in reality. 

But even if these leaders can prove that the church is "alive", there are many other questions that need to be asked.  For example:

• Is it on life support?
• Is it in a nursing home?
• Is it self sustaining?
• Is it doing something worthwhile?
• Is it doing something Biblical?

There are many categories of life that are just as unacceptable as being "dead".  Our organization faces a unique challenge each year as we prepare and plan for the coming year.  My greatest question to the leaders around me is, "What do you intend to do next year?"  This question has become the crucible of my leadership life.  As I listen, it is not the specific "what" that I look for but rather passion that I seek.  Innovation is the thing that I seek.  There is nothing worse than a ministry on life support - just maintaining some thing that was developed long ago for really no reason other than to keep it alive.

Do you see it?  There are at least three categories of things that are alive: vibrant, passionate, innovative and directed; maintained, kept, held and monitored; and, dying, crippled, giving up and on meds.

I want everything I do and everything I lead to be in the first category.  It doesn't matter what we do if we do it with an internally fired passion that directs us to a specific end goal of value.  Leaders should be "up" on what they do - naturally and not politically. Leaders and ministries that are awesome are not just doing something day to day.  Certainly, there is much credit to be given to those who always show up and always do something as expected.  However, there is more credit and much more value when the regular is done with intense focus on a desired result of great value.

Teach, teach, teach and then the people fall away and sleep.  Teach with passion only the messages that are worthy of being the last words you may ever share and the people rise up and awake.  Sing, sing, sing and the people follow you like drones and sleep.  Sing inspired songs picked and sung with a fervor for changing the lives of the very people who sing with you and the people will sing louder and arise in praise. 

So the story goes and it will go longer than we live.  What are you going to do this year?